Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Ben Henry is having an early 90's countdown over on his site and he's up to the top two packs. I, luckily enough, have unopened packs of both sets in the running for #1. Here's a pack of 1990 score that once cost a buck or two depending on how crazy the Bo and Frank Thomas mania was at the time. I got this one three for a buck. Let's rip this sucka and go down each card individually.

103 John Farrell - This pack got beat up a bit and John took the brunt of it. The back of the card tells up that he stopped Paul Molitor's 39-game hit streak in 1987.

97 Gary Sheffield - So is Gary a Hall of Famer or does he suffer from the Albert Belle "voters think he's a jerk" snub? I personally think he's in, but he'll have to chill out for a while like Jim Rice.

245 Wade Boggs - The red border works well on this card. Wade's career batting average was .352 when this card came out. Aye Caramba!

240 Dwight Smith - Came in second to Jerome Walton in the '89 Rookie of the Year vote. He was a pretty good pinch hitter for the Braves in their 19995 Championship year.

225 Pete Smith - At the time, Pete was considered as good a prospect as Glavine, Smoltz and Avery, but '89 was his last full year in the rotation. Pete still managed to hang on in the league for 11 years.

37 of 56 Cal Ripken Jr. 1983 NL MVP - If Score had just put a picture of Cal on this thing somewhere, it might be worth something.

680 Ben McDonald - It's not Frank Thomas, but not a bad rookie either. This might have been worth a buck or two in 1990.

180 Bert Blyleven - Why the heck isn't Bert in the Hall of Fame? The BBWAA are all a bunch of racists against the Dutch. Tulip Power! Amsterdam all you stupid Hall voters to hell! Vote for Bert and his 3701 strikeouts next year or you'll all get a clog up your arse! I'm probably not helping his candidacy any am I.

165 Tom Browning - The leader of that championship Reds staff. Tom threw the screwball and Rob Dibble was the screwball.

160 Julio Franco - If the Braves are out of it in September, they better sign Julie once the rosters expand. Franco needs to play when he's 50. Holy Crap, I just realized Julio is older than Barack Obama. Never mind playing baseball, Obama/Franco '08! Barry needs some experience and gravitas on that ticket.

429 John Cerutti - I don't know anything about Cerutti, so I'll quote something from the back of the card.

"Throws: Left"

That's about the most interesting thing on there, folks.

431 Jeff Kunkel - This card is scary... there's a doppelganger shadowing Jeff in the outfield. Jeff was an All-American at Rider University in New Jersey, so... yeah. Go Rider.

339 Steve Finley - Steve is looking young and pimply for the Orioles on this card. Like Julio, Steve is still waiting by the phone waiting for someone to call needing an outfielder. Steve was drafted by the Braves in 1986 but never signed with them so screw you Steve.

650 Dave Justice RC - Yeah! That's the ticket! I've already got about 10 of 'em and the top left corner is dinged But it's a Dave justice freakin' rookie card. Shorts would have been soiled had I pulled this back in the day. Like the Boggs, the blue border is absolutely perfect on this card.

655 Terry Jorgensen - Only a three year career on the Twins for Terry, and it sadly skipped over the stolen Championship of 1991. Yeah, I said it, ya bunch of Ron Gant wrestling, Hefty bag hanging, A/C blowing Minnesota cheaters.

560 Ken Griffey Jr. - That's the way to finish off a pack, even if the corner's banged. There's a big smile on Ken's face on the back, I miss the days when Ken smiled on his cards.

Well that was an ass-kickin' pack, two decent rookies and potentially four Hall of Famers in the bunch. Five if you count the Cal Ripken magic motion thingy. According to the September, 1991 Beckett price guide, this pack has a high book of $6.71! I just need to invent my time machine and cash in on this sucker.